Prospective Students

Do you feel called to spiritual leadership? Have you been longing for time to think more deeply about life and engage more effectively in responding to injustices and suffering? Has your heart been moved by your participation in a religious community, and have you found yourself considering spiritual leadership?

At Starr King School for the Ministry we place radical trust in the possibilities within you. As the only Unitarian Universalist and multireligious seminary with a hundred-year liberal and liberating tradition, we approach education as an engaged, relational practice through which human beings develop their special gifts and deepen their calling to be of service in the world.

Because of our mission and identity as a Unitarian Universalist and multireligious divinity school, we welcome students from a variety of religious backgrounds, callings, and identities. Our multireligious divinity students embrace a variety of spiritual paths, including Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Religious Humanism, Paganism, indigenous religious traditions, and many others.

Certificate Programs

Chaplaincy Institute Joint Program

The Chaplaincy Institute (ChI) Certificate of Interfaith Studies may be earned jointly with Starr King’s accredited Master’s Degree (Masters of Divinity or Masters of Arts in Social Change) program, thereby providing a pathway for students to meet both the educational and ecclesiastical requirements for certification as a professional chaplain. See the ChI Joint Program page for details.

High or Low Residency Study

Starr King students may study in High Residency, taking advantage of the vast resources of the Graduate Theological Union and our affiliated schools, or they may study in Low Residency from home with short period of intensive study at the school. Prospective students considering High Residency study are encouraged to consider the high cost of living and housing in the San Francisco Bay Area in their financial planning. Low Residency prospective students are encouraged to consider the requisite technological capacities necessary to support studying at a distance such as adequate computing resources and reliable access to high speed internet.